


Arch Enemy, Act 1

by Koroshimasu



Series: Nemesis [6]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Bad Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Biohazard, Chronic Pain, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, End of the World, Final Battle, Flashbacks, Forbidden Love, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, RK900 has no name, References to Depression, Sad shit here, Suicidal Thoughts, Survivor Guilt, Viral weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:14:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23083045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koroshimasu/pseuds/Koroshimasu
Summary: Near the brink of permanent psychological damage, Gavin prepares to obtain the antivirus and cure anyone he can. When walking into a battlefield, however, he finds he could never have prepared for a war between his mind and heart.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: Nemesis [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649245
Comments: 14
Kudos: 26





	Arch Enemy, Act 1

**Arch Enemy**

The old, worn-out signs they passed on the roadside grew more and more frequent, and then buildings started to appear in the distance, growing in number. Soon they were in a city, but Gavin couldn’t recognize it due to so much damage and wreckage meeting his eyes. Perhaps this place could’ve passed off for a part of Las Vegas, perhaps it could’ve also been a deserted piece of Texas. No one knew, and here Gavin drove slower so that the engine was quieter, and he could look around at each detail, window and door for signs of the living or the rest of the androids they needed to wipe out.

They’d all been preparing for months for this, and while Xavier felt they were ready, Gavin was more concerned about Frieda. The woman was almost eight and a half months pregnant, and definitely showing signs of going into an early labor. Her health was important, as was the life she carried deep in her womb that needed to be protected. They all took turns watching and guarding Frieda, feeding her, wiping her sweat down, providing her fresh water and food, and changing her facial masks routinely, just in case the virus still lingered in the air. There was no way to tell, but as their large truck drove on and on, Gavin could sense his team growing nervous and anxious.

Not that he could blame them. They’d been traveling for days, and all under a false impression of searching for more supplies. Well, that had been partly the truth. Gavin was heading backwards instead of forwards, long ago memorizing the camp the androids had set up, and with only one goal in mind:

Reach their lab and retrieve the antivirus he knew they still likely guarded.

But there was no way he could reveal this to his team. Traveling with a heavily pregnant female, even the men would reject the notion of obtaining the much-needed antivirus. It was far too risky, but Gavin was running on borrowed time. If they didn’t have the courage needed for the job, he did, and he was going to go there one way or another.

He still couldn’t tell them, though, but he sensed that his right-hand man Xavier especially was beginning to question his true motives. Whether the older man understood what Gavin was doing or not was immaterial. He sat silently in the back of the truck, a shotgun draped over his lap while Frieda rested her head in Sally’s arms. Both women were sisters, though not in a biologically related sense. They looked after another, and Sally especially had taken it upon herself to be something of a leader for the rest of the women.

Perhaps they didn’t need him, after all…he was content with that idea, and he was slowly mentally preparing for the day he no longer needed them. His team had already proven to him that they were strong as one unit, brave, fearless, and not at all dependent on him for survival. Clinging to them in his current state would only drag them down and slow down their progress.

_‘At least let me get them the antivirus, then I can die in peace’._

Gavin inspected the place he’d decided upon stopping in for a search and break for a good hour before finally deciding it was empty enough and driving up to it. This place wasn’t the largest city they’d been to but it was a good size, and when they pulled up to a gas station, he ordered the women to stay put before hopping out of the truck and immediately going to the gas pump.

Xavier followed, humming to himself while chewing on a toothpick. “Amazing what shit still works at the end of the universe, eh Reed?”

Nodding, Gavin lifted one of the nozzles and flipped up a metal valve on the side of the pump, and when he squeezed the trigger to watch a splash of liquid spatter onto the cement, Gavin released a sound of triumph. “Seems right!” He put the nozzle down and hurried to the back of the truck, where he unloaded large gas cans in a hurry and began to fill them one after another. While pumping gas into the fourth one, Gavin looked up into the truck and gave Arrol a smile when the younger male peeked out the windows. The lively man flashed him a thumbs-up and returned his confident smile, which made the older man feel elated.

Before he closed up the fourth can and started up on the fifth, Gavin decided that this would tide them over for a long time yet. He was going to drain this place dry if he could. Anything could be useful…

As he’d surveyed the barren, desert-like area, Xavier suddenly got in his field of vision. Standing tall and abruptly before Gavin’s eyes, he glared him down until Gavin spat, “What??”

“Your plan, Reed,” the older man grumbled moodily, “it’s not to go looking for more stuff, is it?”

Despising how transparent he himself had been at times, Gavin tried shrugging this off. With a cold wave and grunt, he replied, “Don’t know what you mean, man.” Nodding over at the line of gas cans, he barked, “Hurry up and help a guy out.”

It took two hours of unloading, filling and loading the gas cans that took up most of the room in the back of the truck before Gavin and Xavier filled the truck itself. Clearly, Gavin was satisfied that they were hauling as much gas as they could take away with them, but Xavier hung back while a worried look grew in his eyes. Gavin waved a hand to beckon Arrol and his best friend Tyler out of the truck before hurrying into the convenience store in the gas station, snatching up what was left on the shelves eagerly. There were no sensations of danger or bad feelings in this place, so Gavin was confident it was safe to bring the strongest of the men out as he rummaged through cans, filling a large sack at his side.

When Xavier joined Gavin, he watched what he was doing for a while, before approaching the shelves and starting to select cans as well. Gavin paused and watched Xavier then as a change in roles came about while he picked out cans. He marveled at his friend’s skill; he had enough thought processing in his brain while still being highly alert and worried to watch and see that he was picking only vegetables and fruits and ignoring things like canned noodles and beans, and now he was picking them out on his own and putting them into the sack Gavin held.

Gavin huffed to himself, moving out of the isle, slowly, but then was stopped. Realization struck him then as Xavier reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him from moving away and causing him to look at the older male.

Lips curling back, Xavier looked highly irate. “I have been on your side since day one, Reed,” he exclaimed suddenly, his brown, tattered scarf wavering and flapping in the light breeze. “Now, you’ve come a lot further than I thought you could have as our leader, and I am willing to die at your side if I must…” Tension rose in the air more than debris and dust, and Xavier trembled while his eyes searched Gavin’s relentlessly. “But I know something else is on your mind, Reed. I have seen it myself, and I need you to be open and clear!! Please!!” Ending his plea by shaking Gavin by the shoulder, his filthy, sweaty clothes barely hung on his form. “Reed, _please_ …talk to me!”

Lips and mouth dry, Gavin cleared his throat, ready to say something, when Tyler zoomed by them. Pausing, he held up something in his hand, shaking it back and forth with a proud smile on his face, orange-red hair hanging down in tendrils while he chuckled.

Gavin reached for the object, ripped open the peel-off lid of a can of smoked sardines and sniffed them once before nodding in approval at Tyler’s marvelous find. “Good,” he rewarded his younger comrade, “let’s get this back in the truck, along with everything else.”

Without any arguments or complaints, they did just that. Gavin rushed to Frieda’s side, and while the young woman with wavy, long brunette hair and a tanned complexion rested on her back, belly bulbous and protruding, Gavin held the can out for her to eat.

Blinking at him while Sally wiped her sweaty, heated forehead, Frieda gasped in awe and relief.

“Fish,” Gavin urged. “This is good for you and the baby. It’s meat; you like meat. Eat.”

The pain and struggle in the pregnant woman’s face eased some as she seemed to abandon her command for him to speak with her, and she accepted the tin, digging her fingers into it and scooping the chunks of tiny fish into her mouth hungrily. She ate like a wild creature that had been starving, beads of oil and little bits of fish trickling down her chin and arm as she shoved it all into her mouth. A few times, Sally offered to help, but this was still an improvement from when Sally had to be the one to put the food in Frieda’s mouth for her. Slowly, the expectant female was on her way to building her strength. It was only when there were two little fish left that Frieda paused, swallowing what was in her mouth, and looked up at Gavin again. He was watching her eat the rare treat, and something in his gut twisted.

Frieda paused and held out the tin to Gavin. With some strain, and feeling a headache pounding at his temples, Gavin uttered, “No. You must eat it.” The delight on her face was reward enough but Frieda was still determined as Gavin pushed the can at her, wanting her to have the rest of it.

“No, I said you should eat it,” Gavin encouraged her with a nod, putting a hand over hers-again relishing in how those warm tingles rushed over his skin. He liked it when she touched him, as it was comforting. He knew she would make a wonderful mother. Gently, she pushed the tin back to him, but he placed it back in both her hands while shaking his head firmly.

“You need it more than I do. I would be happy if you ate it all, Frieda.”

She did not need any more convincing; not only had she accepted his offer of good food, but she relished knowing he was more concerned for the life rapidly forming inside her. Gavin was more than eager to do things that made his friends and team happy, so the last two fish were slurped up quickly before she dropped the tin on the floor, causing a loud rattle to echo in the truck. Gavin then resumed going through cans to find the ones the women especially wanted. He didn’t notice the way his friends were smiling at him while he did his best to be useful, but he gave his all for them, working late into the evening and night.

*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~

Come morning, it was the usual routine; the fire was put out, they all ate, then Gavin recounted their supplies and did a weapons check. Midway through the morning, his body began acting up as it always had, but he knew he could only hide it from them for so long. Bones aching and shifting, it all made him scream and writhe in agony. His blood burned like acid being injected into his raw veins, but then as soon as the pain subsided, he felt incredible, and had moments of clarity while the memories flooded back...flashes of time spent with his android lover in a life he couldn’t recall as a whole, though he desperately wanted to. Words, phrases...what struck him the most were the memories of the creature fondly smiling at him, just for him, while staring at him with those piercing blue eyes.

_‘Better to leave that alone. Emotions won’t get me far.’_

Diligently, he packed up their temporary campsite, all into the off-road truck, and then carried his bags to the passenger side where he was buckled in safely and forced to drink water. Being urged by Xavier, he drank it all, though what he really wanted and craved was death. Sometimes his memories gave him that, too, but not a graceful death. What he saw often was raw and bloody.

_His head rolled to the side and his lover stared at him, blood dripping in copious amounts…half-android and half-human creatures rushed to his side, ready to tear what was left of his flesh apart to feast on him…_

Gavin snapped himself out of it. “No. Gotta keep going.”

As the truck was started, they left the place that had been home for a night, moving along down the road as usual. Sitting in the passenger seat, Xavier stared at Gavin, eyes glowering dangerously while they veneered off the marked trail they were supposed to go. When exactly the older man had ceased questioning his superior’s motives was unknown, but Gavin appreciated knowing that Xavier was putting his complete faith and trust in Gavin.

He hoped his body would hold out until they reached the lab. His throat in particular ached terribly. The same way his own body had different stages of healing wounds, his throat had several terrible looking but healing wounds upon it. He knew these were the marks from his own hands and fingernails...he had done this to himself out of misery and punishment…punishment for the android he’d doomed to hell simply for loving it and receiving its love for him in return. No part of Gavin felt as much regret as his heart; he had no higher feelings of that level yet. Still, he felt a want from Xavier, a desire to make his friend feel better, though small, alongside the eclipsing desire to question and hound their leader down.

In spite of it all, Gavin wanted to tear apart his own flesh and end his own treacherously dark misery. That feeling alone was constantly battling with the desire to ensure their safety, and possibly the only thing that kept him going. Some days, he was very sure that one side was winning, while some days it was the other, but it seemed more and more often that he wished for his friends’ safety over his own personal harm at his own hands. His headaches were lessening as well, though they were no less brutal when they came.

They’d driven on for nearly four hours when the silence was too much for anyone to handle. Tyler and Arrol nearly bickered, Sally resorted to glaring away menacingly at Carrol and Eva, and Frieda was growing restless.

“How about some music?” Gavin suggested quietly when he saw the way his own eyes in the rear view mirror were staring at his throat. He wanted to slit his own throat and watch the blood spill down…

Swiftly, he put an old CD into the deck and the truck filled with the sounds of some loud band, occasionally peppered by the scream of a creature being run over or the crackle and thump of long deceased corpses under their tread outside. Every once in a while, Xavier would look over at him strangely, and it would cause two sensations in Gavin, instantly: a headache of skull splitting proportions, and an ache in his gut like his very innards were twisting with feelings he could not name or describe. Yet, he preferred it when someone was looking at him, or speaking to him, over the silence...Xavier’s voice soothed in equal proportions to the distress it caused.

“Gavin.” He’d never stated Gavin’s first name aloud. It wasn’t even the beginning of a sentence any more between them; it wasn’t really anything, though it was his name. If it had to be given a title, it would probably be seen as a soothing mantra. When Xavier said his name, they both felt a little better and more assured. “Gavin.”

Without holding himself back, Gavin whispered breathlessly, “I’m going to get that antivirus.”

He pressed his foot down harder onto the gas pedal as they sped down the highway, and he used this relatively safe time to think. Knowing they weren’t entirely safe just yet, and knowing he was perhaps dying, he had to think. Gavin relished knowing that while he did have relapses now and again, there was as well time to think. The ever-growing army of monsters and beasts beyond a curing point were all spread across the country, training in the most basic form; survival. Those that could make it through this next year would be those strong enough to actually take on searching and saving survivors, worldwide. If they didn’t have what it took to survive alone against them here on home ground, they most certainly wouldn’t when that set date they were all to reassemble would come. In these past months, Gavin hadn’t come across a single android. Xavier held a theory that something had to be slaughtering them, as well.

Staring out the window while they steadily approached labs looming on in the distance beyond dead hills, they espied a horde of decrepit CyberLife buildings. Gavin and Xavier regarded each silently once their eyes met. Knowingly, they recognized each other’s strength without a word, just a quick nod of acknowledgement. Gavin had his own overall mission to attend to next year, but right now...right now, this was his own personal mission, private and unimportant to everyone else on the planet but himself. Hopefully they would understand…perhaps they would never accept it, but they could understand...

Blood burning, his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter and he remembered his lover’s death. That hadn’t been half as bad as returning to the desert to eliminate the swarm of monsters and creatures left there before they could hurt anybody else, only to imagine seeing his lover’s ghostly visage in the crowd of them, a monster like all the rest. It lunged at Gavin, trying to get to him so he could tear a terrified Gavin limb from limb. He’d faltered then upon seeing his lover like that, and in a moment of weakness, he allowed one of those damn things to bite his arm. That had been the first time, but it most certainly hadn’t been the last. It was then that he’d noticed the change, as his own blood gushed into his mouth and he swallowed. In his memories and visions, he’d paused for a moment, and looked at his previous partner with a single hope. Suddenly, for just a fraction of a second, Gavin felt the part of the android still mostly a human being trapped inside that beast staring back. Gavin knew there was a chance to get him back. That was the moment his new personal mission had come about; the others he wiped out in one psychic boom of atomic proportions, leaving only his lover alive and roaring, and he would rescue him. In his imagination, they were survivors. He would have his lover at his side, and he bound him in chains then and dragged him back to his truck, traveling to the ends of the world and saving the rest of the people along the way.

That was his dream…that was all he had…

But everyone had to wake up from a dream some time or another.

The journey to the lab wasn’t easy, though he’d never expected it to be so. Though he was strong enough for this last path, he knew it was putting a toll on every level of his being, mental to physical to spiritual, what was left of it. Hearing his screams and watching his lover suffer as he was brought back to being only a fraction the man he’d once been and suffered through this half-state made Gavin roll down the window of the truck and vomit when he was alone, and made him question if this was right.

What if this was as far as they could go? What if he couldn’t lead them anymore?

He seemed to have reached a plateau in the last while, without much change one way or the other, and Xavier especially had done his best to ‘cover up’ for the lies.

Gavin quickly pulled to the side of the road suddenly. He hadn’t meant to go down that path of thought. He’d been trying to avoid it because of what it did to his body, but there was no going back now; they were already a few feet away from the front parking lot of the lab. Gavin’s face pressed against his white knuckles at the wheel and he squeezed his eyes shut while gasping for air quietly. There were no actual sobs or tears, but it was about as close to crying as he could come any more as he lost more and more of his humanity.

What if he was just torturing himself for his own sick need to try and alleviate some guilt? That question ate at his heart day and night, and would be one he knew he would take to the damn grave.

A hand on his shoulder made his heart race, and his body leap up. Snarling demonically, he had a knife out and ready from sheer instinct that had been honed to a fine point over the years. All parties in the truck froze when Gavin roared and lunged. Xavier had a hand still gently resting on his shoulder, bandaged and smelling of cooked meat under the putrid heat of the sun. Gavin had a knife at his jugular, ready to pierce.

No one breathed.

At once, Frieda gasped, “THE BABY’S MOVING!!! I CAN FEEL IT!!”

That had been the distraction they not only needed, but it helped Gavin understand just who he was fighting for.

While a few women darted out from the back of the truck to touch Frieda’s belly, Gavin put the knife away just as quickly as it had appeared. Deftly, he reached under the seat, dragging the metal case housing more weapons out and drawing out the familiar weapons he trusted with his life. Eyeing the lab up ahead, the gate wrecked, the walls torn down and busted, he knew what they had to do.

Shifting, he unbuckled his seatbelt while Xavier’s pained eyes observed him closely.

“It’s time for another shot,” Gavin intoned in a disconnected voice. Again, everyone was surprised as they watched Gavin pull out every weapon, attach them to his bullet-proof vest, pockets, utility belt, and push open the trunk door. Leaping out onto the dead earth and dry soil, he winced and gingerly touched the wound in his arm.

Vision hazy, he barely managed to whisper his oath. “I’ll find the antivirus, and I’ll kill myself as soon as it’s in good hands.”

Before he could move, the doors of the truck opened, and at least four of the men rushed out. Tyler, Arrol, and two burly blonde men who were identical twins, Chris and Cody stormed around him.

Assessing them in anger, Gavin curtly nodded at the truck. “Get the hell back inside; I’m doin’ this alone.”

That wasn’t enough to stop any of them, however.

Grinning while he slammed a hand down on his shoulder, Arrol winked at Gavin. “No can do, sir!!”

“We ain’t lettin’ _you_ enjoy the party all by yourself!!” Xavier rushed out as well, while Sally poked her head out of the truck.

Not one to argue, Gavin called to her, “Watch the women!! Defend yourselves and try to preserve ammunition. I’m gettin’ that fuckin’ cure.”

*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~*.~

Gavin divided them in two groups. Xavier went with the twins and covered the west side of the lab, while Gavin, Tyler, and Arrol took the south. Their boots marched about in the deep, dark underground basement of the lab, a place where Gavin himself hadn’t ever been. Plenty of freezers, containers, and storage units no doubt meant for androids, their parts, and thirium stood about. Majority of the items and containers were too old for proper use, and the other crates and boxes had been ransacked completely. Nothing remained, and even the freezers were unplugged. Both human blood and android thirium splattered the walls.

Shivering, Tyler whispered, “Some hairy shit went down here, sir.”

Sitting down on an overturned box, Gavin wheezed, “No shit, Tyler.” He was bleeding out through his arm, badly.

Noticing it, a concerned Arrol stood by his side, not at all paying attention to where Tyler was wondering off to, his flashlight bouncing off the walls and floors while he went on.

“Sir! You’re hurt!!” Arrol tried touching his arm, but Gavin shoved him away forcefully.

Growling, he snapped, “Fuck off, Jordan!! I’m fine!!”

Arguing back, the fiery young man tried getting his first-aid kit out, when a loud scream piercing the air broke the sound barrier. Firearms went off, and a moment later, Tyler’s flashlight fell to the floor. At least fifteen feet away, his screams reverberated off the walls, and then suddenly, he began weeping.

Leaping to his feet, Gavin ran ahead towards him. “TYLER!!! GET BACK HERE!!!”

A slurping sound abruptly caused Gavin to stop dead in his tracks. It sounded gooey, and he could’ve sworn he heard bones snapping like twigs. Gurgling noises came down from the hall down past the tunnels, and Gavin began backing up.

Knocking into Arrol, he held out his arms in a protective stance. “Jordan, stay behind me, and you be ready to run when I say, got it?”

Shaking, Arrol couldn’t even utter a single word. The gurgling noises grew louder and louder, and soon, footsteps that sounded like a giant stomping about in the facility came at their ears. It all grew eerier and deadlier while Gavin and Arrol backed up, eventually hitting a wall. They had nowhere else to go, and whatever was approaching was still advancing.

Eyes adjusting to the darkness, Gavin saw a shadowy figure almost over nine feet tall in height. It towered over any creature he had ever seen. Eyes sweeping down, he caught the tattered remains of a trench coat barely coming up to the creature’s knees. It appeared to take on the form of a man, except for its ‘eyes’ and a red glow beaming from its chest. In place of a heart was a giant appendage, made up mostly of a lump of red-pink flesh, while the other half of it was a damn bastardization of a thirium pump. The two halves seemed to be fused together, one half human, the other half machine. It swayed for a moment, and then growled.

Peering up, Gavin saw tentacles and long wires and razor-tips like barbed wire jutting forth from its hips and sides. They moved and danced about on their own accord…or perhaps this thing was somehow controlling them. From its back protruded two ten-feet long wing-like parts, folding down along its sides until it stretched the pieces out to the side. From the back of its neck, one long, deadly tube stretched up, clearly attached to its body. On the other end of it, however, dangling there from the sharp hook-like tip was a petrified Tyler. The young man’s skin appeared to be stretched out over his skeletal system, and he looked emaciated. As white as the walls, the sucking noises grew louder, and Tyler grew paler while his eyeballs bugged out.

Twitching on the hook of the tube, he raised his arms and wailed, “Heeeeeelp…pleeeeaaase…”

Gurgling sounds resonated high in the air, and it didn’t take long for both Arrol and Gavin to notice that the transparent tube running from the center of Tyler’s back to the creature had been transfusing blood and organs from Tyler’s dying body, all the way inside the creature. As bits of flesh were drawn out of Tyler and inside the damn monster, it swelled, it purred, and it cooed. Growing larger and larger, it no doubt was feeding off Tyler, much like a blasted parasite.

“Blood! Now!” Demanded the twisted incarnation of what surely had once been a noble friend or android. It swung its massive club-like tentacles at the two men, who nimbly evaded the blow by ducking under the horizontal arc. The glistening eyes and teeth flashed, and it hoisted Tyler high in the air.

Pushing down on Arrol’s head, Gavin helped the young man duck down as the monster flung Tyler’s drained corpse at them. Tyler collapsed to the dirt, bellowing incomprehensible words of anger and agony while the light left his eyes and his bones turned to dust. Advancing, the tall monster pushed the tables and lab equipment out of the way, sending them all flying across the room.

Moving Arrol out of the way of danger first, Gavin dodged a large blow aimed for his back. Rolling away, he got to his feet, and aimed his shotgun at the creature’s forehead.

“MORE. BLOOD!!”

It craved flesh, and its wires lashed out at Gavin, no doubt trying to trap him.

“You filthy beast!” While it gurgled at him, Gavin quickly shot at its left leg. Blue blood gushed from the stump of its severed leg for a moment before it reached out with a hand and grabbed Gavin by the throat. Yanking him up high in the air until they were at eye level, it knocked the human’s gun from his hands.

No pupils were present in those red-yellow eyes bulging in their sockets as if willing the brave survivor to keel over dead out of sheer directed spite. Not one to give up so soon, Gavin hissed and plunged two blades into the twisted monster’s chest. His aim was wrong; the blades broke off in its thirium pump as opposed to the human heart. Rage and blood swirling about along its half-human-half-android face, the endoskeleton slowly being replaced by human bone and cartilage did well to freeze Gavin in place.

Much like the many deaths of all his friends over the years, Gavin’s will and power began to dissolve. Instead of light however, the creature’s form deliquesced into tainted blood, soaking the dust to be reborn into the nightmare of a reality in due course.

Eyes widening a fraction, its grip on Gavin’s neck loosened, as though a fleeting moment of recognition and awareness existed there between them. Drawing Gavin closer to itself, its hideous expression broke down, and it sank against him. Their foreheads pressed together, and while Gavin choked for air and tried wriggling free as best he could, the creature gave out of a deep rumble of a purr.

Arrol shook while he hid himself beneath broken crates and boxes, still holding onto his weapons. He was too far away for Gavin to try and call out to, reach out to, or even grab one of his weapons and use it to put this damn thing out of its misery.

A puff of air slammed against his sweaty face, causing Gavin’s stomach to churn in deplorable disgust. If this execrable thing was going to end him, why wouldn’t it just do it?? Why was it toying with him this way??

Kicking and squirming, he barely heard the voice he missed so dearly all these months. It was there, however, hovering faintly between a monotonous android voice and a deadly growl befitting a giant, perhaps. Its emotions still somehow persisted and poured forth, not quite there, but persistently rising above the mechanic suppression.

“Gavin…Reed…”


End file.
